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The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 05 Aug 2018, 22:04
by peace355
I've had request from someone looking for more details/scans on the story The Bubble Ballerinas which appeared in Bunty #823 (20 October 1973).

It was about a ballet school where the girls were kidnapped by mysterious bubbles. I only had the first issue myself and I haven't been able to track it down (it may have been one that didn't make the move to my new home a few years ago!)

Anyone able to help?

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 06 Aug 2018, 01:23
by Tammyfan
I think I have an episode or two of that story, but right now I don't have access to my
scanner.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 06 Aug 2018, 05:51
by Tammyfan
Ok, I found I have one episode, dated 22 December 1973. Artist looks like Ron Smith. I’ll see if I can get the scannner going in a day or two.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 06 Aug 2018, 11:14
by Tammyfan
Essentially, the plot is that Jenna Jones and her ballet school are abducted and taken to a remote island to teach Zuleika, the daughter of a wealthy Sultan, to dance. This is no easy task as Zuleika is not only a spoiled brat but also way too tubby to be a ballerina. Zuleika captured the girls by means of a toy that blows giant bubbles, and it catches all escapees as well.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 06 Aug 2018, 16:52
by peace355
Sounds like they took some ideas from The Prisoner

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 07 Aug 2018, 02:32
by Tammyfan
peace355 wrote:Sounds like they took some ideas from The Prisoner
It sure makes a change from using drugs and flunkies, which is what happened to the kidnapped ballet school in Tammy's "Secret Ballet of the Steppes". Bubble Ballerinas must have been popular as it was one of the stories Bunty looked back on in her 25th birthday issue.

Does anyone have the end date to this story? We know it began with #823. And before anyone asks, 30th Century Comics has no Bubble Ballerina issues in stock. I've already checked.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 03:58
by Tammyfan

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 06:13
by Tammyfan
That was episode 10 and it looks like the story still has a way to go before its climax and resolution, so it must have ended somewhere around #840 or before then. It’s not in #842, the next number I have.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 13:09
by peace355
Thanks for that Tammyfan. Interesting story though it unfortunately seems to have one of those narratives of the fat person being ugly and mean and all the heroes are "pretty" girls

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 20:37
by Tammyfan
peace355 wrote:Thanks for that Tammyfan. Interesting story though it unfortunately seems to have one of those narratives of the fat person being ugly and mean and all the heroes are "pretty" girls
The fat person is the villain though. By the way, the artist looks like Ron Smith.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 21:01
by Goof
The story does provide a nice twist on the usual pretty heroine/ugly villain convention in Zuleika's reducing mirrors, which make her slim and beautiful, and the other girls stick-thin and ugly. It's really well done, too, by Ron Smith, who had a bit of a genius for the comic grotesque. I thought he was rather miscast as an artist of ballet stories like Moira Kent, but this is right up his street.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 08 Aug 2018, 22:36
by Tammyfan
Goof wrote:The story does provide a nice twist on the usual pretty heroine/ugly villain convention in Zuleika's reducing mirrors, which make her slim and beautiful, and the other girls stick-thin and ugly. It's really well done, too, by Ron Smith, who had a bit of a genius for the comic grotesque. I thought he was rather miscast as an artist of ballet stories like Moira Kent, but this is right up his street.
I have seen a lot of ballet stories where the artist is miscast in a ballet story. Either the artist does not know how to draw ballet positions correctly or his/her style is not right for ballet, or both. It was one the things I really couldn’t stand in girls’s comics. Of course there were artists who did a brilliant job with ballet, such as John Armstrong and Eduardo Feito.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 09 Aug 2018, 14:10
by colcool007
Tammyfan wrote:Ok, I found I have one episode, dated 22 December 1973. Artist looks like Ron Smith. I’ll see if I can get the scannner going in a day or two.
That's classic Ron Smith art Tammy. It's also really nice to see some of the examples of his work in the girls' comics.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 09 Aug 2018, 19:36
by Goof
Tammyfan wrote:I have seen a lot of ballet stories where the artist is miscast in a ballet story. Either the artist does not know how to draw ballet positions correctly or his/her style is not right for ballet, or both. It was one the things I really couldn’t stand in girls’s comics. Of course there were artists who did a brilliant job with ballet, such as John Armstrong and Eduardo Feito.
Andy Tew also was excellent at ballet, and I think Tony Thewenetti was very good in the Lorna Drake stories. Princess managed to get together a very good stable of artists for the Sally Doyle stories - mainly Hugh Thornton-Jones and Dudley Wynne, but also people like R B Davis and Bill Lacey, and a lot of the ballet/dance scenes were first class.

I've also come to like Ana Rodriguez's work on dance-related stories. It's an unconventional style, and I'm not sure how correct her ballet positions are, but it has great spirit and spontaneity.

Re: The Bubble Ballerinas

Posted: 09 Aug 2018, 21:38
by Tammyfan
Goof wrote:
Tammyfan wrote:I have seen a lot of ballet stories where the artist is miscast in a ballet story. Either the artist does not know how to draw ballet positions correctly or his/her style is not right for ballet, or both. It was one the things I really couldn’t stand in girls’s comics. Of course there were artists who did a brilliant job with ballet, such as John Armstrong and Eduardo Feito.
Andy Tew also was excellent at ballet, and I think Tony Thewenetti was very good in the Lorna Drake stories. Princess managed to get together a very good stable of artists for the Sally Doyle stories - mainly Hugh Thornton-Jones and Dudley Wynne, but also people like R B Davis and Bill Lacey, and a lot of the ballet/dance scenes were first class.

I've also come to like Ana Rodriguez's work on dance-related stories. It's an unconventional style, and I'm not sure how correct her ballet positions are, but it has great spirit and spontaneity.
Ana's ballet stories included "Cindy of Swan Lake" (Tammy), which was very popular with readers, and "Blind Ballerina" (Jinty).